Erin Fox: The upside

I kept track of all the reasons it was nice for G and Little Missy to be at school, learning reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic from their teachers and not from me

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By Erin Fox

Butler County Times Gazette

By Erin Fox

Posted Jan. 4, 2013 at 5:00 PM

By Erin Fox

Posted Jan. 4, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Augusta

Earlier this week I lamented on Facebook that my kids were soon headed back to school, and save for some jokingly evil laughs, my friends didn’t want to send their kids back to school, either. Which may be particular to my friends, since you typically hang with people who look at the world the same way you do, but I feel like moms on the whole are aching to cover their kids in mom’s own protection more and more. And then Thursday I was sad to watch my two teeny kids walk into that big ol’ school without me.

So on Thursday I kept track of all the reasons it was nice for G and Little Missy to be at school, learning reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic from their teachers and not from me:

1. I get to watch the morning news shows when they’re not around. Baby Chickadee still doesn’t comprehend the heavy stories I watch while she snuggles with me but the big kids would, and I’m trying desperately to block some of the world’s yuck from them for a while longer.

2. I only have to pick up after one kid, not three. Now they do sweetly say, “Oh yeah!” and jump to putting the stuff away when I ask them, but I just get tired of asking. So now I only have to pick up after/remind one child to put away her toys.

3. Long visits with friends. Visiting with my friends with big kids around is not as easy. Little kids ignore the conversation while sitting on my lap but G and Little Missy have begun inserting themselves into the conversation. Which is not all bad. I want them to learn how to converse with people older than themselves, but sometimes I just want to laugh with my friends sans interruptions.

4. I can take a nap with Baby Chickadee without ignoring G or Little Missy for an hour. And I do love naps.

5. Treat Time is back. I sit with G and Little Missy around our kitchen table as soon as backpacks and lunchboxes are cleaned out, we all eat sugar, and I listen to them excitedly babble about their days. Sometimes there is less excited babbling and more reports of drama, but that’s okay, too; just as long as I’m hearing their stories.

Aaaand I’m glad it was a short week. Two days of school before the weekend is good.

Erin Fox is a weekly columnist for the Augusta Gazette . Her popular blog - erin’s little corner can also be found on our webpage,augustagazette.com.